In presidential elections it has been traditionally Republican, strongly supporting Richard Nixon in 1960 and twice rejecting Franklin D Roosevelt. But Colorado has also produced a number of liberal Democrats, notably Gary Hart, who was senator until 1986.

The issue of gun control is likely to be an important one in the run-up to the election. It was in the Denver suburb of Littleton where the Columbine high school shooting in April 1999 became the worst school massacre in the nation's history.

1998 Congress

House of Representatives: 2 Democrats, 4 Republicans

Senate: 2 Republicans

Colorado was one of only three states that voted for Bill Clinton in 1992 and then switched to Bob Dole in 1996. The region most responsible for this switch was Colorado Springs, a bastion of religious and social conservatism where Republicans outnumber Democrats two to one.

Voting record

1996: Dole 46%, Clinton 44%

1992: Clinton 40%, Bush 36%, Perot 23%

1988: Bush 53%, Dukakis 45%

The 1990s have seen a conservative resurgence in Colorado that is largely due to its economic boom based on high-tech industry. Colorado is the headquarters of cable giants TCI and Q West as well as many smaller firms.

Encompassing parts of both the Rockies and the Great Plains, the state's largest industry is tourism, though more than four-fifths of the population live in the state capital, Denver.